Kenneth Ascher

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Kenny Ascher
studio musician
Instrument(s)piano

Kenneth Lee Ascher (born October 26, 1944, in

Golden Globes for "Best Original Song
" that same year.

His work

In 1966, Ascher joined the

ASCAP
since 1968.

Ascher's work through the years has included keyboard parts and string arrangements on

Birdland in New York City. The Birdland Big Band performs "Rainbow Connection", arranged by Lew Anderson
.

Selected compositions

Selected discography

As leader

As arranger

Woody's Boogaloo, arranged by Ascher
B3 – You Know Me, by Ascher and Williams
  • RCA Victor
    , arrangements by Ascher (June 19, 1978)

As sideman or band member, on keyboards

A4 – The Sands of Time and Changes (Ascher, piano)
B2 – A Song for You (Ascher, piano)
B2 – Sweet Misery (Ascher plays clavinet and organ)
A1 – A Little Bit of Love, by Ascher
A4 – Sunday, by Ascher
B2 – She Sings for Free, by Ascher
B5 – Loneliness, by Ascher
B6 – Sad Song, by Ascher
B4 – I Don't Have to Do What I Don't Want to Do (Ascher plays
melletron
on this track)
B1 – You and Me Against the World, arr Don Hannah, written by Ascher and Williams
A1 – Watch Closely Now, by Ascher
A5 – Hellacious Acres, by Ascher
B1 – The Woman in the Moon, by Ascher and Williams
B4 – Finale: With One More Look At You / Watch Closely Now, by Ascher and Williams
A2 – You and Me Against the World, by Ascher and Williams
A4 – Loneliness, by Ascher and Williams
B2 – With One More Look at You, by Ascher and Williams
(Ascher produced tracks: A2, A4, B4, B5)
A3 – Heaven Can Wait (string arrangement by Ascher)
B1 – Two Out of Three Ain't Bad (string arrangement by Ascher)
A2 – Smoothin' On Down (Ascher plays clavinet on this track)
B – It Happened (Ascher, keyboards on the flipside only)
2-15 – Back by the River (Ascher plays keyboard)
1 – Morning Much Better, Ascher – piano
6 – Running Out of Fools – If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody, Ascher – piano
10 – Time, Ascher – piano
11 – When the Sun Comes Shining Through (The Ladder), Ascher – piano
5 – Unscheduled Departures
8 – M.A.P.S. (Bob Mann, Kenny Ascher, Don Payne, Allen Schwartzberg)
10 – When She Loved Me (Ascher, keyboards)
14 – Baby Mine, (Ascher, keyboards & string arrangements)
  • Koch Records
    (2008)
4 – One Less Bell to Answer (piano, Ascher; arr Bacharach; strings arr, Ascher)
11 – Close to You (Ascher, piano)
12 – A House is Not a Home (Ascher, piano)
  • The Birdland Big Band, The Lew Anderson Tribute Concert (live), I.E.G. Inc. (June 1, 2007)
  • Tommy Igoe and the Birdland Big Band, Live from New York (DVD) I.E.G. Inc. (Jan 1, 2009)

OCLC 271753259
)

Awards & award nominations

Awards

Nominations

Past Grammy Nominations
Nominee Genre Category Title Performing
Artist
17th Annual (for recordings released between Oct 16, 1973, and Oct 15, 1974)
March 1, 1975
Paul Williams
Kenneth Ascher 		Songwriters Award Song of the Year You and Me Against the World Helen Reddy
20th Annual (for recordings released between Oct 1, 1976, and Sep 30, 1977)
February 23, 1977
Kenny Ascher, Alan Bergman,
Marilyn Bergman, Rupert Holmes,
Leon Russell, Barbra Streisand,
Donna Weiss, Paul Williams,
Kenny Loggins 		Composers and Arrangers
Written for a Motion Picture or a TV Special
 A Star is Born Motion Picture
22nd Annual (for recordings released between Oct 1, 1978, and Sep 30, 1979)
February 27, 1980
Paul Williams
Kenneth Ascher 		Composers and Arrangers
Written for a Motion Picture or a TV Special
 The Muppet Movie Motion Picture

Critically acclaimed live performances

  • Feb 1973 — Ascher played piano with Marvin Stamm at Sam's Jazz Upstairs (1220 2nd Avenue at 64th St., New York City): Bob Dougherty (bass) and Ronnie Zito on drums. Stamm said, "In 21 years of playing music, this is the best group of musicians I've ever been with." Reflecting on that statement, John Stuart Wilson (1913–2002), longtime jazz critic for The New York Times, said, "That might have sounded like a fatuous statement leaders often make in introducing their musicians to a jazz club audience. In this case, however, it was completely believable because Mr. Stamm's quartet is the most exciting group that has turned-up in New York for a long time."[5]
  • May 1973 — Kenny Ascher Trio, Sundays, Jimmy Weston's, 131 E 54th St., New York City[6]
  • Jan 13, 2009 — Mike Berkowitz and The New Gene Krupa Orchestra, Iridium
  • Dec 2000 — Michael Feinstein with a small swing band led by Kenny Ascher, the Regency, New York City[7]
  • July 2001 — Jay Leonhart with Kenny Ascher and Michael Leonhart, July 13–21, Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel[8]

Jingle writing

Ascher has composed (or co-composed)

jingles
for:

  1. Applause
  2. Gotcha
  3. Larry
  4. Mr. Calm
  • Heineken
  1. The Beer
  2. Combined
  1. Brilliant Idea/ GE Brings Good Things to Life
  2. Cooking
  • Pizza Hut (Class Act)
  • NFL
  • Campbell's Soup
    – Never Underestimate the Power of Soup campaign
  1. Never Underestimate
  2. Canned Chef
  3. Hockey
  4. Makes Itself
  5. Red Dress
  6. Snowman
  7. Stay Young
  8. Storm Radio – Winter
  9. Superhero
  10. Superman
  11. Tennis Anyone?
  12. Wild Ride
  1. Herman Joseph – Polo, revised arr by Kenny Ascher (1981)
  2. Herman Joseph – Tennis, comp. & arr. by Kenny Ascher (1981)
  3. Sailboat music and arr. by Kenneth Ascher (1980)
  4. Billiards, music and arr. by Kenneth Ascher (1980)
  • National Airlines
    (Generic/scope), music by Ken Ascher (1978)
  • Ford Motors
    (National Test Drive)

Many of Ascher's jingle compositions were (i) produced by Sunday Productions (Hilary Jay Lipsitz, born 1933, president), (ii) published by Ahoskie Music, Inc. (Hilary Jay Lipsitz, president), and (iii) licensed by

ASCAP
.

Academic education

Ascher holds three diplomas from Columbia University:

While at Columbia, Ascher studied composition with

WKCR's Stone Soup at midnight.[11]

References

  1. OCLC 8034627
  2. ^ Frank Jones, 'Herman's new heard entertains' Nottingham Guardian Journal, 23 January 1967 p. 7
  3. Hal Leonard Corporation
    (1994)
  4. ^ Gene Lees (1928–2010), Leader of the Band: The Life of Woody Herman pg. 266, Oxford University Press (1995)
  5. New York Times
    , February 25, 1973
  6. New York Times
    , May 14, 1973
  7. New York Times
    , December 12, 2000
  8. New York Times
    , July 13, 2001
  9. OCLC 7065938
  10. OCLC 38746731
  11. New York Times
    , pg. 77, col. 2, December 16, 1966
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